


Glory Piece by Piece

by williamcain



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Martial Arts, Mass Effect 2, Paragade (Mass Effect), Psychology, Soldier shepard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-09-03 13:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8715271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/williamcain/pseuds/williamcain
Summary: Grunt tries to figure out why Shepard is so dangerous.





	1. Small

She was so small.

It didn't seem like the right word, because Grunt had already seen her do several very big things, but it still was all that came to mind when he looked at the Normandy's leader.

Small.

She weighed close to one hundred and three kilos thanks to her implants, but at barely one hundred sixty centimeters, she didn't look like she should weigh that much.

She could swing her huge sniper rifle around like it was a toy, but her hands didn't seem like they should be big enough for the huge thing. 

Her body was clearly muscled and sturdy, but put on the Alliance sweatshirt she preferred to wear off-duty, and she looked almost frail. 

"How does so much person fit in something that size," he thought.

"I...beg your pardon?" 

Grunt blinked, and looked up. The other human woman, the Cerberus operative, was looking at him strangely, across the mess table. "What?" He asked, and wondered why it sounded so stupid to say it.

"You said something, a question I believe." The black-haired operative said. 

"Oh." He'd asked the question aloud. Stupid, letting his mouth wander off. _Say what you mean, and only when you mean to say it,_ the Tank's admonition drummed into his head, and he shook it irritably.

"I was wondering about the Commander," he continued. "She's so small."

"She's bigger than I am, or Jack," Miranda replied.

"You're both biotics. You don't have to be big bodied to be big people. She's not. She doesn't have biotics, or fancy Tech skills. But she's the most dangerous person on this whole ship."

"Well, I won't argue with you there." Miranda looked away from their conversation toward the medical bay, where the red-haired commander was having a talk with the doctor woman, Chakwas. "Shepard is quite possibly the most dangerous human who has ever lived, when you get right down to it."

"But then why is she so small? She...fills up a room with her words and that _look_ she gives people, but it doesn't match." He pushed his own plate irritably away. The human cook was terrible. "Any Krogan should be able to break her in half, even with her implants. But I've seen her pick one up and just throw him!" 

That got a laugh out of Miranda, who looked as surprised by the sound as Grunt was to hear it. "Judo, Grunt, that's Judo."

"What's Judo? Is that what humans call throwing things?" 

"Sort of," she picked up her plate and carried it to drop off by Rupert, before returning. "Judo is a martial art, a hand to hand fighting style from Earth. It's...a kind of wrestling, I suppose, it uses leverage and balance to take enemies off guard and, well...throw them."

"But WHY?" He asked, growling. "She'd be better off just...shooting. She's got a long-range weapon, so she should sit back, but she just fills up the whole battlefield!" 

"You're all over the place tonight."

"What? No, I'm sitting right here." 

Miranda put her hand over her face. "Yes...forgive me. What I meant was, I'm not _entirely_ sure what you're complaining about, and I have a lot of work to do, so if you could explain?"

Grunt scowled, ready to stalk off...but it seemed like an important matter. He wanted to know. "How does someone who looks so...ordinary, who doesn't have Biotics, isn't a Tech Genius, be so good? She didn't have a Tank, she doesn't have powers. Why is it that everything in me says she's _supposed_ to be in charge, then?"

"Oh, that?" Miranda thought about it. "I...think you need to ask Garrus to show you why Shepard is so good."

"Garrus? Why?" That seemed like a stupid thing, Miranda was right here, why should he go talk to the reclusive Turian.

"Because he watched her become this way." Miranda shrugged. "I have to get back to work. Ask Vakarian, he should know."

Grunt scowled, watching her head across to her suite, beside the mess. 

He sat there, staring at his rejected plate broodily. Then he pushed himself up onto his feet and stalked toward the Main Battery. "Vakarian! We need to talk about you and Shepard!"

Even inside her office, Miranda heard the sound of a head thudding underneath the forward guns, and shook her head.


	2. Calibrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At last, a followup to chapter 1. 
> 
> Garrus and his headache try to explain Shepard to Grunt.

"Vakarian!"

Garrus, formerly Archangel of Omega, had heard Grunt coming down the access way between the hot-rack sleeping pods. It would have been impossible not to hear the modest juggernaut moving, really. Hearing his name bellowed didn't really phase him. Granted the guy was louder than Wrex had tended to be, but that hall and the door provided a lot of insulation. He didn't bother getting up from where he crouched, head ducked under the forward housing where he intended the massive thanix cannon to be stuck in.

"We need to talk about you and Shepard!"

THAT did startle him, and he jumped, bashing his head on the cowling. He reflexively tried to jerk his head, only to find he'd caught one of the blades of his fringe between two metal plates, sending a jerk of discomfort through his head and a flash of lightning across his eyes. "Dammit, ow..." he jerked his head forward and down, freeing the blade and retreating from the maintenance space. As he got to his feet, thought finally caught up with his body's reflexive panic.

 _How did he know!_ She'd only just made the suggestion a few hours ago, there was no way gossip about it could have gotten to GRUNT of all people...

The tank-bred powerhouse thumped through the opening door, looking about before spotting Garrus at the far end. 

"Grunt. Hi." Garrus struggled to sort through the conflicting sense of injury to his head and his disorientation at what the Krogan had said. "What did you want?"

"I want you to tell me about you and Shepard." He crossed his arms as he said it, those powerful biceps looking like they'd strain the skin surrounding them.

"Um..." _No, wait. Life is not a comedy, this has to be about something else,_ Garrus thought, feeling common sense pushing to return to him. "Alright, what exactly do you mean by that?"

"Why is Shepard so powerful if she's so small? She doesn't have armored skin like you, or biotics like the two from Cerberus. Lawson said you knew." 

Even when he was explaining himself with what seemed like a sensible request, Grunt looked devotedly belligerent. Still, at least the world made sense again.

"Why the interest, Grunt? Apart from the Krogan worship of all things warfare, I mean." Garrus bent to pick up the tools scattered in his haste to stand up.

"She's my battlemaster. I helped her tear a Thresher Maw apart, and I've watched her blow Krogan apart without effort. It can't just be those implants of hers, so don't start with that."

"Been doing some reading, I see." Garrus had a thought, then held the toolbox out to Grunt. "I'm working, so if we're going to talk, help me."

The Krogan glowered. "I don't know how these systems work." 

"Don't have to. Just hand me tools when I ask for them."

Grunt continued his impressive scowl, then took the box. "Rrrgh, fine, but talk." 

"Fair." Garrus hefted himself over the right-side hump of the gunframe. "Type two spanner."

Grunt selected the tool after scrutinizing the labels, then handed it over.

"Much obliged." Garrus started opening up the gun housing. "Alright. Shepard is...well, she's trained, for one thing. I know it's hard to tell human ages from how they look, but she's been either training to be a soldier or serving as one for over a decade. Even for a Krogan, that'd be enough time to pick up experience, right?"

"I read about her battles. Akuze. Feros. Virmire. Why did she survive Akuze? She wasn't full of implants then. And this Special Operations program she's part of can't train you for Thresher Maws, nothing can."

Garrus snorted. "On that point, we agree." He continued ratcheting at the panel. "You said you don't know how a ship's guns operate. You know about yours? That shotgun Shepard got you, I mean."

"What? Yes. The tank explained how mass effect weapons worked." Grunt looked irritated at the question, but uncharacteristically waited for Garrus to get to his point, instead of demanding it. 

_There might be hope yet._ Garrus nodded, and pulled the panel off. "But I don't see your name on the maintenance logs. You always check it in with Taylor."

Grunt blinked. "And? That's his job. He's the armorer, he handles the armory." He said it...strangely. As if he was trying the old saw about explaining something very obvious to a child, but he didn't seem to have the timing down.

"Check the logs. Shepard works on every single piece of her gear herself." Garrus held out a hand. "Energy reader." 

Grunt sorted, handing him the requested tool. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Turning the reader on, Garrus set it on a bundle of power lines, and hit the switch for a test state. "Think about every mission you've gone on with her, Grunt. What's the first thing she does in the shuttle, after she gives the mission brief?"

Grunt thought about it. "She looks at everyone's gear. Or tells people to check their partner." 

"That's right," Garrus said, noting down the figures on his little sensor's screen. "She pays attention to the little things. Oh, she probably couldn't get in here and work on these guns like I can, but I'm willing to bet she'd know enough about them to help me out if I asked." 

Grunt was quiet, and Garrus let him think apart from the occasional request for a tool as he worked on the systems before him.

"So you're saying she can kill a thresher maw...because she knows about guns?" Grunt sounded dubious, and perhaps a little insecure in his question.

"I'm saying she wasn't just born "The Commander," kid. I'm saying she takes extra time every day to MAKE herself The Commander." Garrus began closing the gun housing back up. 

Grunt was quiet again. Garrus waited, instincts telling him to let the kid sort it out. 

"I'm going to talk to Taylor," Grunt announced. "But you still have to tell me something you two DID. Something about how she got this good."

Garrus chuckled. "Well, it occurs to me that there was this time on Noveria..."

~~~

Some hours later, Garrus unrolled his sleeping mat in the aisle next to the massive gun. As he stretched out, a thought occurred to him. "EDI?"

"Yes, Mr. Vakarian?"

"Could you tell me if Grunt is using the computer for anything?"

"Grunt has made a ship's inquiry, yes."

"And what did he look up?" Garrus tugged his clothing rucksack under his head as a pillow. 

"That information is technically private."

"Yes, but it's important. Call it me looking out for a crew member."

"Very well. He requested information about the maintenance procedures for the M-3000 Claymore shotgun, Judo, Brazilian JiuJitsu, and Commander Shepard's daily routine."

Garrus' mandibles flared in amusement. "Knew the kid would figure it out."

"I am sorry?" 

"I'll explain another time, EDI. Wake me in five hours." Garrus rolled onto his side.

"Very well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the best work, but fun to write.

**Author's Note:**

> First attempt at a longer-form fic in my Yvainn series, with a look toward how Grunt sees Shepard. Also, blatant double-meaning at the end, I am guilty of horrible things.


End file.
